Legend of
by Gamivair
Summary: cough I don't have a Title for it yet. Soo... yeah. I can't really summarize it yet. It's just a basic Redwall fic. Pretty much all made up characters. Yeah. Just go read it.
1. Chapter One

CHAPTER ONE

Under the sweltering heat of the summer sun, a young ottermaid sat beside the Abbey Pond. Trying to relieve herself a bit of the scalding temperatures, she dabbled her paws in the shallows. She was suddenly knocked flat by a rush of Dibbuns, the mischievous abbeybabes.

"Save oi, Rikka, oi do gurtly 'ate bathers…"

"Dun let Sisser Lily get us inner baff! She scrub our eyeses out!"

"Heeelp!"

A rather disdainful mouse sister of Redwall Abbey followed the Dibbuns. "Oh dear, I'll never be able to bathe them now… They've found you." Rikka only gave Lily a wink in reply.

"Now then, wot's all this? Dibbuns not wanting to take a bath! Well I never… hasn't old Brother Ogen told you the story of Dillin?"

A hedgehog scowled impudently. "No, Rikka, tell us'n's, we wants to hear et!" Rikka began her fibbed story, making grand gestures with her paws to emphasize her words.

"Why, Dillin was an innocent-enough young mousebabe; th' only thing wrong wi' her was she never wanted to take a bath. She kept gettin' dirtier an' dirtier, 'til she was covered with layers an' layers o' dirt. One day, the ole Cellarhog accidentally dropped a handful of seeds on her. The seeds took root in the dirt, and began t'grow! Within a month or so, pore ole Dillin was covered head to foot in strawberries, turnips, carrots, an' all manner o' vegetables!"

The Dibbuns watched, wide-eyed. A young mole pressed further. "Hurr, wot 'arppened nex, miz Rikka, marm?" Rikka grinned knowingly. "She was eaten all up by two hungry hares!" The small crowd let out a gasp, then took off toward the bath. "I ain't gonna be eated up by any 'are, ho no!"

In a matter of moments, all the Dibbuns had dispersed, Sister Lily with them. A molemaid chuckled from her position a few feet away. "Hurr hurr, Rikka, you'm a rarscal if oi ever seed'un. 'Ee got those Dibbuns to 'ee barths quicker'n'ever!"

Rikka bowed comically. "Why, thank ee! You're Duggem, right? Foremole Burgg's daughter?" The mole nodded. "Whoi, yes oi am. Lunchtoime is cummin' oop, we'm better get to 'ee Gurt Hall." The ottermaid grinned. "Ho, right you are, m'friend! If we don't get there soon, our new resident hare might just eat it all up!"

The pair had nothing to fear. When they made it to the abbey, they found the resident hare sitting outside Great Hall. Duggem inquired about his downcast appearance. "Hurr, wot are 'ee doin owt yurr, zurr Dunnor?" The hare replied in a mournful tone. "I was just samplin' a bit of the food before hand, makin' sure that the scoff was safe t'eat. But that ole Friar chap, Roan thingummy, chased me out! I was only doing mah duty, wot wot."

Dunnor had come to Redwall Abbey only a season back, and was little older than a leveret. Rikka helped him to his feet. "Don't worry, mate! Me'n Duggem here'll protect you from Friar Roanburr." Duggem agreed heartily. "You'm no need t'be a-froightened with us'n's 'round!" Dunnor slung his paws around Rikka and Duggem's shoulders.

"Yore right, no Friar'll dare mess with three bloodhungry beasts such as we, wot wot!" Joking and laughing, the three creatures of Redwall entered the Great Hall.

Miles away from the peaceful Mossflower Country, in the land of Southsward, an army was growing. Redven the Sly surveyed the many creatures under her command with disgust.

Redven was a cunning young vixen, scheming her way to positions of power. Now she was left with a horde of thousands of vermin; rats, ferrets, weasels, and stoats, even three adders were present.

But each and every one was untrained, unused to being under command of a single horde leader. Redven was left with thousands of hordebeasts, several hundred prisoners, and the conquered Castle Floret of Southsward.

A grimy looking rat scrambled up the side of the cliff Redven was standing on. His head popped up over the edge. "Eh, Redven, there's a li'il' problem down 'ere…" The golden-furred fox aimed a kick at the rat's head, pushing him off the side of the cliff. "Wot 'ave you done now, Grimnose?"

Grimnose reached wildly for the cliff edge, making contact and clinging to the side of the cliff. He clambered up to stand far away from the edge. "It ain't nothin' I've done, Redven, it's those snakes you got. The other hordebeasts won't go anywhere near 'em." Redven sighed. "How in the name of Hellgates does that add up to a problem I should be worried about, you addlebrained excuse for a rat?"

The second in command shuffled his feet, and mumbled out an answer. "They refuse to train with the adders in camp, Redven."

Redven the Sly erupted, aiming kicks and blows all around her right-paw rat. "Well, get down there and tell those sniveling, simpering, pampered brats that they better get training, before I come down there and flay each an' every one of their hides!"

Dust flew as Grimnose scrabbled down the cliff. "Yes, yes, right away, Redven!" The vixen horde leader buried her head in her paws. Thousands of vermin under her control, and no place to go!

It was deep into the night, and Danolta, the squirrelking of Southsward, sat under the tree where he had so happily spent his childhood. Now he was chained up and tied to the old willow, along with his wife, twin daughters, and the rest of his court. One of the twins, Roey, was set in his lap. The other, Amin, nestled uneasily in his wife's. Danolta blinked back a tear.

"How could I have let this happen? How could I have let our dear castle fall prisoner to that vixen?" He murmured softly to himself, so as not to wake the other prisoners that he assumed were all asleep. The muffled clanking of chains and the soft touch of a paw on his shoulder told him his wife, Aethel, was also awake.

She shifted, bound right beside Danolta. "It's not your fault, dear. There was nothing you could do. There were too many of them, and too little of us."

The strong voice of the head hare of the Southsward army, Fleetum, reached the squirrelking's ears. "Aye, even if they hadn't caught us off guard, we wouldn't have been able to make a bloomin' dent in their ranks, wot!" Danolta smiled weakly. "You're both right. I suppose I am blaming myself too much."

Fleetum spoke again. "I already have the troops workin' on plans to escape from this bunch of rotters." Aethel chuckled. "Always ready for action, that's you in a nutshell, Fleetum. We didn't appoint you head of our army for nothing."

Danolta nodded, stroking Roey's soft baby fur. "Well, there's naught we can do right now, save sleep." Fleetum nodded, looking down as her stomach rumbled. "If those vermin would only give us some scoff… ah, well, a body can forget everything in sleep. G'night, yore majesties."

Soft snoring announced the hare's slumber. Aethel yawned. "It is late, Dan. We should follow the others' example, and get to sleep. Try not to worry too much, we will find a way out of this mess."

Danolta settled down to sleep, following his wife's advice. But the back part of his mind vowed revenge on Redven the Sly. He would get no rest until the cunning vixen drew her last breath!


	2. Chapter Two

CHAPTER TWO

Back at the safety of Redwall Abbey, the woodlanders were waking up from their slumbers. The cheery song of the robins announced the coming of the morning, heralded also by the golden sun rising up in the sky.

Rikka was already wide-awake, having an early breakfast in Great Hall. Duggem and Dunnor, still rubbing sleep from their eyes, soon joined her.

"Gurr, 'ow can you'm wake so early in 'ee morning, Rikka?" The ottermaid scooted over to make room for her friends, laughing softly. "You don't seem t'be much of a morning person, Duggem."

"I should think not! Crumbs, I'm still 'alf asleep, and here you are, up an' runnin'. Strange, 'tisn't it, you should be the last one of us t'wake, you really do need your beauty sleep, wot" He was answered by a candied chestnut hitting him on the shoulder, thrown from the expert-slinging paw of Rikka. "If anyone needs their beauty sleep, it's you, Dunnor me mate!"

Duggem growled, slamming down on the table with a paw. "You'm stop 'ee arguin' roight now, eat 'ee brekkist 'fore I steals it owt from unner you'm noses!"

Rikka and Dunnor both threw a salute to the molemaid, shoveling food into their mouths. "As y'say, marm!"

"Right away, O Mistress of the Morning!"

"Damsel of the Dawn!"

Duggem glared at them both. "Oi wudden't be talkin', Commanner of 'ee Bottomless Stummick, Ruler of 'ee Ever Chatterin' Mowth!" Dunnor cringed. "I say, keep throwin' out insults like that, and there'll be mutiny within the ranks!"

Rikka chuckled. "C'mon you two, let's go see if there's anythin' needs t'be done 'round here. Mebbe Brother Ogen'll 'ave somethin' for us t'do."

The old Abbey Recorder, Brother Ogen, chuckled softly as Dunnor formed Rikka and Duggem into a smart, military line. "Feet t'gether, gels! Don't stand 'round like a pair of old molewives, wot!" Duggem twisted her face into a nasty look aimed at the hare. "Chest out, stomach in… That's it. Now salute!"

Rikka and Duggem threw a salute as Dunnor instructed. "Aye aye, colonel!"

"As 'ee wish, maister Dunnor! We'm yore's t'command!"

"Jus' give the word, O perilous, brave, frog-wallopin' leader"

Dunnor scowled, ears flopping down around his face. "I say, bad form, wot wot! Sarcasm to a commanding officer, well, I never…" He turned around, saluting Brother Ogen. "We three goodbeasts were wonderin' if you had any duties, tasks, or the like for us to perform! Sah!" He barked out.

The old mouse brother smiled good heartedly. "Why, indeed I do! Would you mind helping Abbot Tumo, Sister Lily, and I with the Dibbuns on a berry hunt?"

Rikka and Duggem clapped their paws together in glee, but Dunnor slumped down to the ground in despair. "Oh no, not that bunch o' rotters! I implore thee, good sir, spare me from this dread task. Imagine wot yore ole ma- and pater would say, forcin' an innocent young hare to spend the day with those 'orrible little savages, wot!" Duggem dragged him to his feet, chuckling. "Oop 'ee cumm, Dunnor. Et'll do 'ee some gudd, gettin' some fresh air and essersize."

Brother Ogen nearly collapsed with laughter despite his age as Duggem and Rikka dragged the wailing hare off to Abbey doors.

Roey and Amin, Danolta and Aethel's twin daughters, trembled at the feet of Redven the Sly. The evil vixen smiled cruelly. "Now then, be good little squirrelbabes and tell Redven where your daddy's treasure is hidden." She reached out to pat Roey's head, but the little squirrel pulled away. "Leave Roey 'lone! Daddy dun have no treasure. Let uses go!"

Redven scowled, reaching to strike Roey, but Amin leapt upon her arm and sank her sharp milkteeth into the vixen's paw. Redven yelped out, shaking the squirrelbabe onto the floor of the small dungeon in Castle Floret.

"Yowch! You little… Let's see how you feel after a few days away from your precious mummy and daddy!" She strode out of the prison cell, giving instructions to the guard. "Keep them in there for three days, give 'em three meals a day of bread and water. After three days, bring 'em to me."

She headed up the winding stairs to the master bedroom of Castle Floret, her appointed quarters since the conquering. She flopped down on the large bed, sighing angrily. "The little wretches are right, there is no treasure in this forsaken castle…" She let out a yell of frustration. "Agh!... Bring me Grimnose and Rippaw!" She instructed the guard to her quarters. He rushed off, and a few minutes later, the summoned vermin rushed into the room, both saluting. "Yes, Redven?"

"Wot is et, chief?"

Redven blinked at the bedraggled sight before her. Grimnose was bleeding from a leg wound, with claw marks all over his face, caked in dirt. Rippaw the ferret was sopping wet, with scratches down his arms and legs, and a gruesome laceration on his upper right arm. In the distance, shouting and the clanging of steel could be heard.

Redven scowled. "What's goin' on out there?" Rippaw looked at his feet. "A fight." The vixen bared her teeth, turning to the guard. "Go out there and tell one of my adders to break it up." The stoat saluted clumsily. "Aye, but… which one?" Redven waved him away. "Oh, I don't know… Alcinaor." The guard nodded, rushing off to find the biggest of the three adders.

Grimnose and Rippaw gulped as Redven looked back at them, smiling cruelly as she had to the squirrel twins. "Are we doing good here? Are the food supplies high, the horde happy?" The rat and ferret captains nodded nervously. Redven continued questioning them. "So we're all settled in? Nice and comfy." Again, the captains nodded. "Aye, aye?" Rippaw ventured.

The vixen suddenly leapt off the bed, startling Rippaw to jump back, while Grimnose, more experienced at dealing with Redven, stood his ground nervously. "Well, that's just too bad. Get the horde ready to move."

"Why!" Rippaw foolishly inquired. Redven drew her dagger, pushing it against the ferret's throat. "Why? You question your horde leader?" She pushed the blade a bit harder. She watched emotionlessly as the tiniest drop of crimson blood ran down the blade and splashed to the floor.

She removed the blade from the unfortunate Rippaw's throat. "I'll tell you why. I am Redven the Sly; Marlfox blood runs in my veins! The treachery of Silth and her brood flows strong within me. I am not happy unless I am in the thick of battle!" She whirled on Grimnose. "You, Grimnose, you have evil rats in your ancestry as well."

The rat nodded. "Aye, Cluny the Scourge was m'great great great sumpthin' or other, of that I'm sure."

Redven turned back to Rippaw, smiling with a false pity. "Alas, poor ole Rippaw, no great ancestors to call his own. Ah well, perhaps he will make a name for himself to give his descendants pride."

Rippaw gulped. "Yes, Redven." The vixen moved back to sit on the bed. "But that will never happen unless we make a fight. We will travel to search for an enemy worthy of Redven the Sly and her horde! So now do you see why, ferret?" Rippaw nodded. "Yes, Redven."

She lay down on the bed again. "Out of my site, you incompetent fools! Go, get the horde ready to move!" The two scrambled out to do Redven's bidding.

She watched them go, eyes glinting menacingly. Soon now, there would be battle. There might be another fortress, perhaps another castle, to conquer. But there was also what Redven the Sly longed to inflict. Pain and Death!

_**Author's Notes:**_

_Yay! Updating! Don't get too excited though, my updates won't all be this quick. I have the first three chapters written already, that's why I'm putting them up so fast. I have two requests to make of all my readers:_

_One, pleasepleasePLEASE tell me if there are any typos, grammatical errors, etc. I am very bad as far as proofreading, so just tell me in the review and I'll fix it as soon as possible. _

_Two, as far as mole and hare speech go, I hope I'm doing all right. Please let me know if I'm laying it on too thick, too little, or any other pointers. _

_Now, to reply to my -two whole- reviews... ._

_**decemberbliss: **Yesh, I finally did! This takes place some time in the future from all the novels, so I would have some trouble bringing Martin in... Of course, I could always have him appear in a dream or something... Hmn... toddles off to do some plotting_

_**mythwing: **toddles back to finish author's notes Thankies! Yesh, I am very fond of Redven... Can't remember a female/fox warlord, so I decided to be unique-ish._


	3. Chapter Three

CHAPTER THREE

Waves rolled and pounded onto the shore at the foot of the great Fire Mountain, Salamandastron. The joyful shouts and whoops of a group of young creatures suddenly broke the summer morning's peaceful silence.

Seagulls scattered and took to the skies as the group pounded along the beach. Shrews, leverets, and two young badgers composed the merry group. They gleefully ran, chasing each other along the sandy shore.

"Yah, yew can't catch me, boil-bottom!"

"Ho yes I can, bootnose!"

"Yahaha, Bruma's it!"

Bruma, one of the two badgers, stopped and flopped down onto the sand. "Phwaw, I'll never catch any of you! I'm too tuckered out." Russano, named in the memory of the late Russano the Wise, led the group over to his sister. "Are you okay, Bruma?"

The young badgermaid laughed, and leapt up. She tapped her brother on the snout. "There, now you're it!" She laughed maniacally, and took off down the beach. The rest of the group followed swiftly after her, leaving a very bewildered Russtano on the shore. A few moments later, however, he had taken up the chase.

Larkbeat, a pretty young leveret, ran alongside Bruma, her friend. She chuckled as she ran. "I say, Bruma, that was quite possibly the cleverest way of tagging somebeast I've ever seen, wot? 'Ceptin, o' course, fer me great grand pater Fil- waah!" She suddenly fell head over paw into a large dip in the dunes. Bruma fell after her, landing only a few inches from on top of Larkbeat.

"Whoa, that was quite a tumble, wasn't it, Lark?"

The hare laughed. "Quite right, m'friend. Are you…" She trailed off as she looked around. None of their other friends, or the towering sentinel that was Salamandastron, was in sight. "Where are we?" Bruma stood up, and nearly tripped over again. She whirled around to see what had almost felled her.

Right in the middle of the ditch was a large, slumbering, slow worm. Larkbeat backed up quickly. "That there is a slow worm, Bruma. I doubt you've heard of them, they're not poisonous, but they wrap themselves around your neck and squeeze and-" She shuddered, and drew her paw across her neck.

Bruma shivered, and turned back to look at the sleeping snake. "It's asleep. If we're quiet, we can get away easily," She whispered.

But the badger had spoke too soon. Already the slow worm was slowly waking up and slithering across to them. Its eyes were a light gold, and seemed to be whirling slightly, hypnotic like. His scales were a brilliant white, with a hint of gold mixed in. The strong, muscular body slowly slid over the rough sand. It spoke, in a harsh, yet soothing voice.

"Who are you creaturesss, to disssturb my sssleep? I am Ssseveren, ruler of thessse sssands." Bruma tried not to show her fear. She opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by Larkbeat. "Yah, go boil your 'ead, slimy snake! These are free lands, nobeast rules 'em!" Bruma went to cut off her friend, but it was too late. Severen had been angered.

He coiled up, curling his entire length into a tower that was almost as tall as Bruma. "You lie! I am the ruler of thessse sssands, and all who enter will die!" He moved to strike, but stopped suddenly. His hypnotic eyes stared at Bruma's neck. The badgermaid's hand flew to the medallion hanging there, the symbol that she was the daughter of the Badger Lord Whitestripe. "What are you looking at?"

Severen uncoiled, eyes never leaving the medallion. "You are a badger of the mountain, are you not" He spoke slowly and clearly, thinking hard about each word before speaking it. Bruma nodded fearfully, eyes wide. "I am Lord Whitestripe's daughter Bruma, of Salamandastron. Yes."

What Severen did next surprised both Larkbeat and Bruma. He bowed his head, laying it down in the sands. "Then I am yoursss to command, my lady." Larkbeat nodded happily. "Thas' right, slowsnake m'pal, yore ours to command" Severen raised his head, fangs glinting menacingly in the sharp summer sun. "I can finissshhh thisss fool off for you, my lady, if you wissshhh..."

Bruma shook her head emphatically. "Um, no, that won't be necessary, Mister Severen, sir."

The sinuous serpent nodded, then turned his head to look Larkbeat in the eye. "I'll do as my lady sssays, but if you call me ssslowsssnake again, I will forsssake my honor to do you in, hare. I am an adder. Would you like it if I called you a rabbit"

The frightened hare maiden gulped audibly, patting Severen timidly on his arrowed head. "Y-yes, t'wouldn't like et at all, never do it again. Sah"

Back at Salamandastron, Lord Whitestripe paced the forge room that had belonged to every Badger Lord and Lady from seasons past. His son Russano stood in the corner, with Lady Vura fussing over him.

"Whitestripe, whatever shall we do? Oh, my poor Bruma gone missing… What if vermin got to her? Or the adder Log-a-Log warned us about? Oh, I knew we should have sent the Long Patrol with the Guosim to get rid of it, I knew it" With a grunt, Russano squirmed free of his mother's vice-like grip. "Mother, please. I'm sure Bruma just got lost. She was running swift as any storm breeze, with Larkbeat at her side, not even watching where she was going."

A knock resounded on the door to the forge. Whitestripe swung it open with a hopeful look on his face. There stood a battle-hardened, tough looking hare. Beside him was a young shrew, rapier still in her hand.

"Well"

The shrew shook her head. "Sorry, milord. No sign of either of them." She strode further into the room, facing Russano. "Yore sure they were headin' north, Russ"

The young badger nodded his head solemnly. The hare sighed, leaning against a knotted, wooden rod. "Log a Log 'ere and I searched all up that way. The duo must have doubled 'round or somethin'. Like Shen said, there was no sign of either of 'em."

Log a Log Shen took Vura's paw comfortingly as Whitestripe let the door fall shut. "The Guosim and I searched from North to Northwest."

The hare, General Gronnell, nodded his head. "Right, and I took my patrol to the Northeast, sah. Not so much as a bruised blade of blinkin' grass." Just as Lady Vura began to dissolve into tears again, Whitestripe spoke. "We shall find them soon, dear." Turning to his son, the badger lord's mouth twisted into a slight grin. "How'd you like to head your first official Long Patrol mission, son"

_**Author's Notes:**_

_Well, there we are then. That's as much as I have pre-written. I'm not sure this chapter is done yet, I'll probably add more... What do you lot think? Should I just leave it and start Chapter Four? _


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